Tourist experience: Contemporary perspectives

              © PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. ISSN 1695-7121
Vol. 12 N.o 3. Special Issue. Págs. 649-650. 2014
www .pasosonline.org
Reseña de Publicaciones
Tourist experience: Contemporary perspectives
Sharpley, R. & Stone, P. (Eds.). Oxon, UK: Routledge (2011)
ISBN: 978­‑0­‑415­‑57278­‑1
Dora Agapito*
University of Algarve (Portugal)
* PhD in tourism and MSc in marketing. Currently, she is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of
Algarve. E­‑mail:
dlagapito@ualg.pt
Dora Agapito
The consumption of experiences has been
acknowledged as a key research topic in tourism
studies, since everything in a destination can be ex-perienced
by tourists, whether it be places, people,
or activities. Along with changes in contemporary
societies, continuous transformations in tourism
both in scale and scope have led tourist experiences
to become more complex and varied in their forms.
In this vein, Tourist Experience: Contemporary
Perspectives reflects on the diversified meanings
attributed to the tourism experience by tourists
through case studies representative of diverse geo-graphical
areas, in a multidisciplinary perspective.
The compilation of research contributions from
both academic and practitioner­‑based
perspectives
organized in eleven chapters offers an overview
of current research themes, which are presented
in five sections: dark tourism, poor places, sport
tourism, writing and researching on the tourist
experience.
The search for new experiences led tourists to
places that some years ago have been thought as
unusual destinations, such as the case of poor or
dark places, somewhat associated with authentic
areas to experience. In this context, dark tourism,
also termed thanatourism, is approached as an
institution mediating the dead and suffering and
the living. A discussion on the label of “darkness”
in tourism and the authenticity of the experience
is provided along the two chapters dedicated to
this theme. The potential of future research is
PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. 12 N° 3. Special Issue. Mayo 2014 ISSN 1695-7121
650 Tourist experience: Contemporary perspectives
highlighted since mortality has been historically
related to art, literature and travel, involving not
only meaning for the living but in some extend the
gratification of the human senses.
From the perspective of social and cultural cons-truction,
in addition to the relationship between
the individual and the place, the importance of the
embodied experience is a sound and interesting
topic connecting all chapters. Since sensory stimuli
underlie the provision of satisfying environments
for the consumption of tourism products and servi-ces,
and boost human interactions, they are seen
as appropriate for the planning of meaningful
sensory tourist experiences. While encouraging
responsible tourist experiences with respect to
local resources and communities, sensory stimuli
are also important markers for recollection.
This idea is especially evinced in the case studies
of Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Twickenham
Stadium in London analyzed by Sean Gammon,
who draws attention to the fact that sport sites are
places to visit and sensorially experience rather
than places where the event will take place. Whilst
acknowledging that experiencing an empty stadium
is different from experiencing an awake stadium,
diverse sensory­‑informed
markers can be managed.
The desired outcomes are enhanced experiences
for both the active and passive sport tourists and
the development of the sense of identity, belonging,
and attachment.
Since various forms of tourism, such as sports
attraction tourism or rural tourism, became relevant
and competitive markets, sensory stimuli can be
explored not only with the aim to enhance tourist
experiences in physical environments but also in
virtual environments by using the potential of
information and communication technologies in
the different moments of travel. The role of new
media in narrating travel experiences is especially
emphasized in chapter 11 presented by Gretzel,
Fesenmaier, Lee, and Tussyadiah. The anticipation
and recollection stages of tourist experiences in
addition to the in loco activity are seen as involving
specific particularities that influence the type of use
of consumer­‑generated
media and mobile technolo-gies
by tourists who use them with the purpose of
narrating their travel experiences. These forms of
contemporary travel writing help tourists to enhance
and add meaning to their experiences, document and
share their stories with others, thus contributing to
the process of cognitive and emotional attachment
to products, brands and destinations. Hence, apart
from being cultural and social constructions, these
stories of encounters with locals, other tourists, and
places go beyond the gaze, putting together all the
bodily experience by including the non­‑visual
senses
along with sight.
While the diversity of ways of conceptualizing the
tourist experience is explored in the first chapter by
Chris Ryan, the last section of the book is dedicated
to innovative and appropriate methodological appro-aches
to researching tourist experiences. Mary Beth
Gouthro stresses the importance of the advances in
qualitative approaches in tourism research focused
on revealing the phenomenological nature, richness
and depth of tourist experiences. Martine Middleton
highlights the senses as a means to differentiate cul-turally
tourist experiences. The author suggests the
use of Q methodology, which provides a numerical
perspective on subjectivity allowing quantitative and
qualitative understandings regarding tourist expe-riences.
Responsible tourist behavior is explored in
the last chapter by Davina Stanford, who considers
the use of Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
concept as an appropriate framework to research
tourists’ reactions to persuasive messages aiming
at influencing their behavior.
Overall, the ultimate goals of the research
compiled in this book by Richard Sharpley and
Philip Stone are offering new insights on how to
facilitate positive and memorable tourist experien-ces,
regardless their form, and understanding the
nature and complexity of the contemporary tourism
experience. Emergent motivations, behaviors, and
responses towards new destination experiences are
analyzed, which adequately represents some of
the latest research trends proving the reader with
important recommendations for future studies.
Recibido: 07/11/2013
Reenviado: 16/12/2014
Aceptado: 08/01/2014
Sometido a evaluación por pares anónimos